Bits: A.I.’s Shift to China

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, May 30, 2017 [For the latest updates, go to nytimes.com/bits »]( [Daily Report: An Industry’s Center of Influence Shifts]( [Sören Schwertfeger testing his latest space detection and scanning robot.]( Sören Schwertfeger testing his latest space detection and scanning robot. Tim Franco for The New York Times Sometimes a shift in power happens so subtly that you don’t even notice it is occurring. Take the increasingly important field of artificial intelligence. For all the talk of autonomous vehicles and smart home appliances in Silicon Valley, some of the most innovative work in artificial intelligence is being done far away, in China. Beijing is supporting A.I. research with vast sums of money and is helping to move those innovations into China’s private sector, [Paul Mozur and John Markoff write](. And China is spending more just as the United States appears to be ready to pull back on such investing. The Trump administration recently released a proposed budget that would drastically cut back on many of the federal programs that have traditionally funded artificial intelligence research. “China’s ambitions mingle the most far-out sci-fi ideas with the needs of an authoritarian state: Philip K. Dick meets George Orwell,” Paul and John write. “There are plans to use it to predict crimes, [lend money]( track people on the country’s [ubiquitous closed-circuit cameras]( alleviate traffic jams, create self-guided missiles and censor the internet.” What’s more, entrepreneurs from other countries who might have made their way to Silicon Valley in years past now consider China a legitimate option for their work. It may be that the United States is turning inward at exactly the wrong moment to capture the technology industry’s next big breakthrough. – JIM KERSTETTER Read More [Is China Outsmarting America in A.I.?]( By PAUL MOZUR AND JOHN MARKOFF Its ambitions mingle sci-fi ideas and big money with the needs of an authoritarian state. ADVERTISEMENT More From The Times [Behind the Scenes at Orchard Platform, a Struggle to Innovate]( By RANDALL SMITH Orchard had successful founders, big-name investors and ambitions in the loan market. But after more than a year, it has completed few transactions. [Hackers Hide Cyberattacks in Social Media Posts]( By SHEERA FRENKEL A recent attack on the accounts of Defense Department employees suggests how easily people can be duped into clicking on dangerous links. [The Future of European Transit: Driverless and Utilitarian]( By MARK SCOTT Across Europe, some fledgling driverless projects are focused on utilitarian self-driving vehicles for mass transit that barely exceed walking pace. [The Ringer, Bill Simmons’s Site, Will Switch Its Host to Vox Media]( By DANIEL VICTOR The move by The Ringer, which will maintain editorial independence, is a blow to Medium, which has hosted the sports and culture website since it began last June. [As Computer Coding Classes Swell, So Does Cheating]( By JESS BIDGOOD AND JEREMY B. MERRILL Growing numbers of computer science students are getting caught plagiarizing code, either from classmates or from someplace on the web. [In China, Umbrellas and Basketballs Join the Sharing Economy]( By AMY QIN Buoyed by the success of car- and bike-sharing companies and fueled with cash, Chinese start-ups are entering what some see as a sharing bubble. [Mother of Uber Chief Executive Killed in Boating Accident]( By MIKE ISAAC AND BENJAMIN WEISER Travis Kalanick’s father was also seriously injured in the accident on Friday near Fresno, Calif., the company said. [The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App]( By VALERIYA SAFRONOVA The app, which shut down in April, was plagued by bad press from the beginning, earning itself a reputation as a place for racism, sexism, bullying and bomb threats. Personal Tech Tech Tip [The End of the Road for Some Apps]( By J. D. BIERSDORFER As Apple moves to update its iOS software this year, apps that have not kept pace with the changes will be sidelined. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [bits_newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:bits_newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Bits%20Newsletter%20Feedback%20223). ADVERTISEMENT LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. FOLLOW BITS [Twitter] [@nytimesbits]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Bits newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018